ITV’s Unforgotten star praises ‘joyous’ co-star and teases at romance between characters

has shared his experience of working with actor Georgia Mackenzie on the crime drama Unforgotten, describing it as “a joy”. The sixth series launched yesterday (February 9), presenting a chilling case for the detectives to solve.

In typical Unforgotten fashion, the premiere episode had the team investigating a case involving human remains discovered in a marsh. Detectives DCI Jess James (Sinead Keenan) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) are tasked with unravelling the gruesome details of the historical crime.

The first episode introduced a number of complex storylines that the show’s creators have suggested will converge later in the season.

We also see Sunny enjoying himself with his colleague, pathologist Leanne Balcombe, portrayed by Georgia Mackenzie. Sanjeev expressed his enjoyment of working with the actress.

He said: “Well, there’s a number of things. First of all, doing scenes with Georgia is always a joy. It’s always been a joy. In earlier series, when she came in, she was giving us the information about the body, and so there was a lot of info that she had to convey to us, which was all very technical, but it was always such a laugh when she came in. She’s just one of those joyous people that brings that joy with her.”

Sanjeev hinted that his character may form a deeper relationship with Leanne throughout the series: “But also, within the storyline, Leanne and Sunny were the last two people who ever saw Cassie alive, and that connects them. 

“So in this series, we see them build on something, build on a connection that is not based on Cassie it’s based on them as people and where they go with it.

“So, in that sense, there is something that blossoms there. But being Chris [Lang, the show’s writer], there are also very heady cliffs that suddenly appear as well. It’s not plain sailing.”

Unforgotten airs Sunday nights at 9pm on ITV One, or stream on ITVX.